Featured
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Lazarus Solution by Kjell Ola Dahl #Review #Giveaway
Summer, 1943. Daniel Berkåk, who works as a courier for the Press and Military Office in Sweden, is killed on his last cross-border mission to Norway.
Demobbed sailor Kai Fredly escapes from occupied Norway into Sweden, but finds that the murder of his Nazi-sympathiser brother is drawing the attention of the authorities on both sides of the border.
The
Norwegian government, currently exiled in London, wants to know what
happened to their courier, and the job goes to writer Jomar Kraby, whose
first suspect is a Norwegian refugee living in Sweden … a refugee with a
past as horrifying as the events still to come … a refugee named Kai
Fredly…
Both classic crime and a stunning exposé of Norwegian agents in Stockholm during the Second World War, The Lazarus Solution is a compulsive, complex and dazzling historical thriller from one of the genre's finest writers.
For fans of Sebastian Faulks, Lars Mytting, Mick Herron and Robert Harris.
My Thoughts
Written with characteristic clarity, this wartime thriller establishes the atmosphere of Northern Europe in the Second World War from the start. Norway has been occupied by the Nazis. Sweden is neutral. You follow Jomar Kraby as he tries to establish what happened to a courier who was working for the exiled Norwegian government. Reluctant to take on the job, he sets about the task. Meanwhile, a refugee, Kai Fredly comes to his attention. Throughout, you are aware of the characters watching each other, wary and unsure who to trust. There is a feeling of jeopardy and of waiting for something to happen and of moving in the shadows as events unfold .
This is an interesting look at the effect of occupation on people’s lives. On the surface, life goes on but underneath the everyday there are secrets. The challenge for the reader is to try to discover who they owe an allegiance to. You sense that must people are waiting for something to change. Others are looking for what they can get to live a comfortable life. Most have a price. Some have an eye to the future, living under a false identity, waiting to see which side emerges as the victor. Kai and Jomar are intriguing characters, especially the latter with his frustrated creativity. With a distinctive tone of stillness and expectancy, you are shown what it must have been like to live under the woke of occupation or threat. By the end, like Kai, you appreciate the luxury of not living according to others’ will.
In short: trust no one
About the Author
One of the fathers of the Nordic Noir genre, Kjell Ola Dahl
was born in 1958 in Gjøvik. He made his debut in 1993, and has since published
eleven novels, the most prominent of which is a series of police procedurals
cum psychological thrillers featuring investigators Gunnarstranda and Frølich.
In 2000 he won the Riverton Prize for The Last Fix and he won both the prestigious
Brage and Riverton Prizes for The Courier in 2015. His work has been published
in 14 countries, and he lives in Oslo.
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Popular Posts
Bear Grylls Adventures - 12 book set #Review
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Zero and the One by Ryan Ruby ** Blog Tour Review & Extract**
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Descent by Paul E Hardisty #Review #Giveaway
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
I'm glad I found you this Christmas by CP Ward ** Blog Blitz review & Giveaway**
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
The Fascination by Essie Fox #Review #Repost #Giveaway
- Get link
- X
- Other Apps
Comments
Post a Comment